Shared Flashcard Set

Details

WGU-Social Sciences-Theories and Methods
Theories and Methods
42
Other
Undergraduate 1
03/01/2010

Additional Other Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
History
Definition
It's primary concern is to record events of the past. It is NOT concidered a social science.
Term
Replication
Definition
repeating a research project
Term
sample
Definition
a subset of a population
Term
hypothesis
Definition
a tentative statement of a topic that is subject to testing
Term
social sciences
Definition
has problems conducting laboratory experiments, as do the natural sciences.
Term
participant observation
Definition
a research method in which an anthropologist lives with a group of people and engages in some of their rituals
Term
case study
Definition
an intensive study of an individual or small group
Term
cross-sectional
Definition
a study in which a broad spectrum of the population is surveyed at any given time.
Term
correlaton
Definition
only indicates a possible causal relation
Term
Developing a research design
Definition
once a social scientist has formulated the hypothesis, what is the next step of the scientific method?
Term
experiment
Definition
the research method in which the researcher controls on variable and observes and records the results
Term
scientific theories
Definition
are open to challenge
Term
independent variables
Definition
variables that exercise influence on other variables
Term
During the Enlightenment of the 18th century
Definition
a number of scholars believed human social life could be studied scientifically.
Term
experiments
Definition
based on controlling a variable and observing the results
Term
theory
Definition
set of concepts and generalizations
Term
scientific conclusions
Definition
relative to time and place of study and subject to revision
Term
concepts
Definition
generalized, abstract ideas that symbolize whole categories of people, objects, and processes.
Term
research
Definition
test and bolsters, or refutes theories
Term
variables
Definition
the factors whose relationship social scientist try to uncover
Term
Steps of the Scientific Method
Definition
1. Select and define a topic
2. Review the literature
3. Form a hypothesis
4. Develope a research design.
Term
anthropology
Definition
a combination of naturaly science (biology) and information gathered from social science to uncover the relationships between human biological traits and traits that are acquired socially by living in groups.
Term
economics
Definition
the discipline that sudies the systems that societies construct
Term
geography
Definition
the social science that deals with human use of the natural enviroment.
Term
political science
Definition
study of power; probes the need for an institution to maintain order, make decisions, and provide for defense
Term
psychology
Definition
focuses on the forces that shape and motivate individuals, forming their minds and personalities
Term
sociology
Definition
newest of the social sciences--the systematic and scientific study of human social relationships, and of all the social systems that such relationships endanger.
Term
Research Methods in the Social Sciences
Definition
1. Sample Survey
2. Case Study
3. Participant Observation
4. Experiment
Term
sample survey
Definition
studies a statistically valid sample of a population via questionares, personaly interviews, obtaining factualy information, probing attitudes, and establishing relationships among variables in order to establish facts. It is not always 100% accurate in refelcting attitudes and opinions.
Term
case study
Definition
researches the total behavior of a particular unit of people by gaining confidence of members, obtaining biographies of members, learning each member's views, and establishing hypothesis or relationships that can be tested by other means in order to study a particluar unit (family, gang, ethnic group) in depth or several units for compairison. It is most useful when events under consideration are rare; often cannot be used as a basis for generalization; expensive and difficult to compute quantitatively.
Term
cross-cultural
Definition
comparisons of different societies or specific segments of them
Term
longitudinal study
Definition
survey that continues over a long period of time, engages in contrast and comparison.
Term
population
Definition
a specific group
Term
statistics
Definition
methods in the form of numbers used to process the information obtained by research.
Term
descriptive statistics
Definition
statistics that communicate information in a clear manner
Term
central tendency
Definition
what is typical of a group of numbers when calculating the mean, the median, and the mode.
Term
mean
Definition
obtained by adding all of the figures and dividing them by the number of the cases.
Term
median
Definition
the number in the middle of the distribution of scores
Term
mode
Definition
the number that appears most frequently in a group of numbers
Term
inferential
Definition
statistics that allow researchers to generalize a population from a sample
Term
ethical neutrality
Definition
an attitude of research in which the researcher controls and manipulates variables in one group to test the effects of an independent variable on a dependent variable.
Term
How do the text book authors define the scienctific method?
Definition
a method that obtains evidence that is verifiable and subject to replication and to makes no judgement about even the most seemingly obvious "facts" until original suppositions are overwhelmingly supported by proof.
Supporting users have an ad free experience!